The Australian arm of a Brisbane-based biotech company that secured a $300 million deal to ship home COVID-19 testing kits to the US has gone into voluntary administration.
A meeting of Ellume’s creditors will be held later this month. Ellume’s US business is unaffected.
Ellume rose to prominence last year when it signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to provide home-testing kits for COVID.
Last October, the company hit a roadblock when some of its test kits were withdrawn in the US after a spike in false positives.
At the time, Ellume said 190,000 of the 3.5 million tests sent to the US had been withdrawn.
It is not yet clear whether the withdrawal played any part in the decision to put the company into administration.
John Park of FTI Consulting said he and Joanne Dunne were appointed to “maximize the chances of Ellume exiting the administrative process in an orderly fashion”.
“The administrators intend to negotiate with the company on a regular basis, while we conduct an independent assessment of the financial position and continued viability of the business,” Park said.
Ellume CEO and founder Dr Sean Parsons (left) in his lab in Brisbane. (ABC News: Jessica Rendall)
Ellume CEO and founder Dr. Sean Parsons said the company’s goal was to “revolutionize the way infectious diseases are diagnosed.”
“I am incredibly proud of Ellume’s achievements in what has been an unprecedented, challenging and dynamic time,” he said.
“We are entering a voluntary administration process for the Australian business to help determine the best course of action to secure and strengthen a future for Ellume.”
The company has also received funding from the state government.
In January last year, State Development Minister Steven Miles confirmed the government had provided funding to Ellume from the state’s essential goods and supply chain programme.
“This funding will allow Ellume to ramp up manufacturing of its suite of rapid test kits at its new Richlands facility,” Miles said at the time.
He described the test kits developed by Ellume as “world-leading, life-saving diagnostic testing technology.”
More than 300 employees worked at Ellume’s Richlands production lab, Miles said last year.